Wednesday marked a significant day in college sports, as it was National Signing Day. Programs around the country received their National Letter of Intents from the newest crop of players.
Following one of the best recruiting classes in school history last year, UCF football signed 19 players for the 2012 season, with 13 players hailing from the state of Florida.
With the Knights set to join the Big East in 2013, this year’s recruiting class filled a lot of needs with the addition of formidable size, speed and depth. While the names aren’t as high profile as last year, the Knights filled plenty of holes on the roster and prepared themselves for entering a BCS conference.
“We fulfilled our needs. We signed 19. It was an offensive class to start; we brought in lineman, quarterbacks and receivers. I think we brought in a lot of talented players. Defensively, we helped ourselves where we needed to help ourselves,” UCF head coach George O’Leary said.
Headlining the 2012 class was wide receivers Drico Johnson and Dareen Owi, and lineman Chester Brown.
Johnson is a 6’2″, 200-pound hometown receiver who was rated No. 87 nationally at the position by Rivals.com. The Agape Christian Academy product earned Class 2A Second-Team All-State honors last season after leading the Central Florida-area in receiving with 1,052 yards.
Johnson will provide solid height in the receiving corps after the Knights had to rely primarily on smaller receivers last season with Josh Reese (6’0″) and Quincy McDuffie (5’10”) being undersized.
Owi was highly recruited from Miami Norland High School and also brings in much-needed size to the receiving corps at 6’3″. He received interest from big-name schools, such as West Virginia, Wisconsin and Cincinnati after helping Miami Norland win the 2011 Class 5A State Championship. Owi could end up being the star of UCF’s 2012 class.
Brown is currently listed as both on offensive and defense lineman at 6’5″ and 340 pounds. The Samoa-native is ranked 48th nationally at his position by Scout.com and comes in with high praise from Coach O’Leary, who said the lineman told him he can bench press 445-pounds five times.
“I think hes a lineman…He has all the tools. He’s a big person and a great kid. When you watch him on film, he has great food speed, moves really well for a big guy. I could see him playing either side,” O’Leary said.
After losing out on the highly-touted Jonathan Wallace to Auburn after he originally verbally committed to UCF, the Knights still landed two quarterback prospects in Tyler Gabbert and Troy Green.
Gabbert, the brother of Jacksonville Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert, could immediately compete for the starting QB spot with incumbent starter Blake Bortles. The redshirt sophomore sat out last year after spending his freshman campaign at Missouri.
Green is a 6’1″ QB from New York, who was regarded as a top quarterback in the state. He garnered interest from Syracuse and Connecticut after throwing 34 touchdowns his senior season.
With the departure of Jeff Godfrey, the Knights will have an open spot under center that will see a lot of competition as the team enters Spring ball. Although Godfrey, who led the Knights to the 2010 Conference-USA Championship as a freshman, had a somewhat ugly ending with the team, O’Leary didn’t think that affected the program’s Miami-based recruiting.
“Miami Herald said we signed the best receiver out of Miami (Dareen Owi). I think a lot of that stuff with Jeff Godfrey was of his own doing,” O’Leary said. “I don’t think that was the feeling I got when I was running around Miami, talking to the coaches down there in high school.”
Other notable recruits are tight ends Cal Bloom and Blake Davis, as well as WR Taylor Oldham, cornerback Jacoby Glenn, and OT Colby Watson.
Bloom is a 6’5″ TE from Minnesota and a three-sport athlete. Davis is a 6’4″ TE from South Florida, who received interest from Georgia, Maryland, Miami, NC State and Boston College.
Oldham, a 6’1″, 195-pound receiver from Daytona Beach, was listed at No. 17 on Orlando Sentinel’s 2012 Central Florida Super60. He is a versatile player who Coach O’Leary compared to sophomore-to-be wide receiver J.J. Worton. Worton had a stellar redshirt freshman campaign, posting a team-high 531 yards and four touchdowns and was named to the C-USA All-Freshman Team.
Glenn is a big-play defender who was rated the No. 34 overall prospect on Rivals.com Alabama Postseason Top 40 list and has a chance of replacing star cornerback Josh Robinson, who opted to enter the NFL draft.
Watson is a 6’5″, 310-pound offensive tackle who was noted as one of the most dominating prospects in Northern Florida. ESPN.com rates him as the No. 16 guard in the nation and No. 46 overall prospect in the Sunshine State.
Overall, UCF had a successful Signing Day with the depth and size they added to the roster. The Knights didn’t have one player who was under six-feet tall, and added three top lineman, who were all over 300 pounds.
“We wanted to get some range. We brought in more size at wide receiver, which I thought was needed. We brought in more range at the defensive back. The offensive line average was probably 6’5″ or 6’6″,” O’Leary said. “I thought we did a good job of securing the talent that we were looking for as far as from a height, speed and weight standpoint.”
The Knights will begin the 2012 season on Aug. 30 with a matchup against Akron at Bright House Networks Stadium.
